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[06:25 of Video] SECRETARY TILLERSON: Well, I’m delighted to be in Cairo, my first trip to Egypt as Secretary of State, and to really have very comprehensive discussions about this almost one-half-century relationship between the U.S. and Egypt and our commitment to strengthening this partnership in the years to come.

I’m also very pleased to be with Foreign Minister Shoukry, who has become a friend as we have engaged on a number of challenges in the region and to address those jointly and with a great deal of agreement between us as to how those issues need to be addressed. I look forward to my meeting with President al-Sisi and appreciate his receiving me as well.

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We never know what we truly believe until it’s a matter of life and death. Billy Graham, along with a firefighter and a young woman forced to face the reality of death, share the Gospel message, and what really happens when we die.

Recorded by Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in 2014:

Billy Graham Memorial HERE

Eternal rest grant unto him, oh Lord.

In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Sarah H Sanders Twitter @SHSanders45

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

Consider this a kick-off to my official NAFTA watch.  Readers will note my earlier spidey-sense prediction of NAFTA withdrawal announcement in/around the end of February through March.   I cannot see a delay in an announcement extending beyond March 2018.  Ergo, CTH is fine-tuning the radar to watch closely.

The fatal flaw within NAFTA has not been addressed.  Neither Canada nor Mexico has even slightly indicated a willingness to engage talks over the fatal flaw.

Exactly the opposite happened earlier this month when Canada signed up to the TPP deal.

The agreement has yet to be ratified by Canadian Parliament, and many are nervous, but it will likely get done.

The NAFTA decision will be the biggest political and economic decision in the Trump administration so far, and the corporate GOPe response is anticipated to be beyond ugly.  Additionally, it would be intellectually dishonest not to accept there are very specific interests watching these pages as part of their proactive strategy. (Hi, Tom)

That said, if you were Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and you noted the specificity of the current trade-policy planetary positions; and you were overlaying the preparatory action taken by Justin from Canada; and you understand there are factually hundreds of billions in play; you would be a fool not to go past past Economy Minister Ildefonso Guarjardo and directly engage the ultimate decision-maker, U.S. President Donald Trump, out of an urgent need to evaluate the survivability of your economic surroundings.  It would be imprudent not to prepare yourself:

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Earlier tonight House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes appeared on Tucker Carlson television show for an interview.  The topic is the HPSCI investigation into the details of the Clinton-Steele Dossier and the FBI’s politically motivated use therein to obtain a fraudulent FISA surveillance warrant.

Earlier in the day Chairman Nunes sent letters to former President Obama officials in an effort to discover their connection to the dossier and their knowledge of the content.

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While speaking during a White House ceremony earlier today President Trump announced he has directed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to develop regulations surrounding “bump fire stocks”, noting the intended regulation would be an actionable step to help prevent future mass shootings.

During his remarks President Trump noted: “We cannot merely take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference, we must actually make a difference.” The decision to eliminate ‘bump-fire stocks’ is smart policy and politically.

On the policy side the regulatory move is in line with already existing rules on firearms that ban auto-fire weapons. On the political side the memorandum stops opposition from saying the President is not taking action; the regulatory memorandum reflects action taken by President Trump that was not taken by President Obama.

(From the memorandum) After the deadly mass murder in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 1, 2017, I asked my Administration to fully review how the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives regulates bump fire stocks and similar devices.

Although the Obama Administration repeatedly concluded that particular bump stock type devices were lawful to purchase and possess, I sought further clarification of the law restricting fully automatic machineguns.

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Earlier today President Trump hosted an event ceremony honoring Public Safety Medal of Valor recipients.  The President began his remarks with comments on the Parkland FL school shooting.

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Anyone else notice how, post letter to FISC Judge Collyer, Chairman Bob Goodlatte is running silent, yet deep?  ‘One-Ping Only‘…. we digress.

You might remember from a recent interview with HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes how the Chairman was appreciative of State Department Jonathan Winer’s op-ed in the Washington Post regarding his role in promoting the Clinton-Steele Dossier… Well, today Chairman Nunes follows that trail and submits a letter to several members of the Obama administration inquiring as to their participation and knowledge.

The chairman has sent a series of questions about the sketchy Clinton-Steele dossier on Donald Trump to a number of current and former government officials.  Unfortunately, the committee letter does not specify to whom Nunes sent the questions, however according to Byron York there are more than 20 recipients.

No doubt former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey are at least three of the recipients. Those three would be of particular interest due to their prior collaboration on the sketchy intelligence community Joint Analysis Report.

Readers will likely remember from our initial research how we strongly suspected the FISA Title-1 application was likely an aggregate assembly of two specific sets of documents. Set #1 the Clinton-Steele Dossier; and set #2 the underlying documents behind the intelligence community Joint Analysis Report (JAR).

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